Dominique

1979

Action / Horror / Thriller

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 50% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 50%
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 1357 1.4K

suicide last will and testament rich wife gaslight

Plot summary

The wife of a greedy man comes back to haunt him after he scares her to death.

Director

Michael Anderson Photo
Michael Anderson

Top cast

Michael Jayston Photo
Michael Jayston as Arnold Craven
Jack McKenzie Photo
Jack McKenzie as John, 1st Chauffeur
Jenny Agutter Photo
Jenny Agutter as Ann Ballard
Jan Holden Photo
Jan Holden as Ballard's Secretary
720p.BluRay
875.08 MB
1280*688
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 6

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by lathe-of-heaven 4 / 10

REALLY Slow, but not in a good way. Sadly, pretty much poor in every way...

Sorry to say, especially with the supposed talent in front of the camera, the movie was extremely slow, drawn out, and honestly a whole bunch of pretty much nothing...I don't mind slow burn films at all, but like any good story, it really has to have a decent plot behind it and just as importantly if not more, a decent script and director. And, quite honestly this has none of that.I swear the director (along with all the supposed 'Performances') were totally sleep walking through this 'Story' Bland, absolutely NO atmosphere what so ever. And, when you are trying to create an effective Gothic Ghost/Haunting tale, strong atmosphere and mood are absolutely essential, and there truly ain't none of that here.I mean, literally in the first 30 full minutes almost nothing of any note happens other than the obvious plot point of what happens to the wife. Long, drawn out scenes where not only nothing happens, but they are so completely devoid of any mood or atmosphere, it's like the director had no idea at all what kind of movie he was making.Normally, I really love good, old fashioned Ghost Stories, especially the British kind even though they can be really low key at times. But, not to put too fine a point on it, this was is completely dead on arrival.Not recommended at all... I gave it a '4'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MY PARTICULAR WAY OF RATING:5 - Flawed, but with some entertainment value.6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )
Reviewed by Coventry 6 / 10

Ah, the old trick with the self-playing piano! Does anyone still fall for that?

The absolute most positive comment I can write about "Dominique" is that director Michael Anderson and his entire cast & crew remained 100% faithful to their initial intention of making an old-fashioned convoluted and atmosphere-driven "vengeance-from-beyond-the-grave" mystery thriller/horror. "Dominique" undeniably relies on plot clichés, stereotype characters and predictable jump-scares, but somehow it still stands as a respectable and potent semi-classic of the late 70s, and (correct me if I'm wrong) no true horror fanatic would ever criticize it entirely.It's quite easy to list all the minor and less minor defaults of this production. Heck, I'm also guilty of jokingly referring to the title as "Dominique is Dull" instead of "Dominique is Dead". The pacing is incredibly slow, often on the verge of comatose even. Almost a third of the footage easily could have been cut as well, notably all Cliff Robertson's snail-paced trips through the corridor and down to the greenhouse to check whether or not his supposedly dead wife is bungling from the ceiling. Most of the supernatural gimmicks and tension builders are pretty weak and transparent (especially the self-playing piano) and the denouement honestly is quite easy to foretell, even if you haven't seen "Diabolique" and its four dozen of inferior imitations.And yet ... it's utmost admirable, I think, that "Dominique" stubbornly and wholeheartedly persists in trying to disquiet you with minimal resources. Contrary to many other, similarly themed films, this one didn't cause me to go eye-rolling or hit the fast-forward button. A handful of sequences really are effectively uncanny, like the arrogant husband suddenly getting confronted with his own date of death on a tombstone, and some sub plots really are clever, like what's the dubious role of the doctor. It also helps, of course, that the cast exclusively contains extremely professional and experienced names. Cliff Robertson is terrific, and he receives qualitative support from Jenny Agutter, Simon Ward, Jean Simmons and even that lovely elderly Flora Robson. "Dominique" may be routine horror guff, but I daresay that I'm proud to have it in my collection nonetheless!
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